The Pop of Today Vs Pop Of Yesterday

DriveYourCarDownToTheSea · 03-08-2014, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Surell

I have to agree with listener101, though i hate the 80s, it was an fairly diverse genre what with hip hop becoming more popular and therefore opening up the charts a little bit. It seems like up to a certain point musical exposure is fairly black and white, in the most literal sense. White people only liked their Rock and R&B, and certain black singers, and the Black community had Soul, Funk, and so on. That might be too much of a generalization though, I know some artists were certain breakthroughs or crossovers, but there seems to be a sort of barrier in popularity.

I was actually thinking about the demographic angle not long ago.

Back in the 60's whites were a bigger portion of the population than they are now - and their music buying power was undoubtedly greater proportionally still. Since they tended to like rock/pop music (plus jazz and classical for the older generations) that's going to have an effect on what sells the most.

Nowadays you've got a more diverse population, and as a result, you've got a wider variety of what's the most popular - and more fragmentation in the industry too.

Back when I was a kid and teenager in the 70's, if you listened to or were aware of maybe about 30 bands, you covered probably what 70% of what the general music-listening population out there listened to. Nowadays the top ~30 bands are probably going to be familiar to maybe only 40% of the listening population (or even less). At least that's the impression I get.

Of course the internet has had a big effect too, but I get the impression the industry would still be more fragmented even without it.

Pet_Sounds · 03-08-2014, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DriveYourCarDownToTheSea

Back when I was a kid and teenager in the 70's, if you listened to or were aware of maybe about 30 bands, you covered probably what 70% of what the general music-listening population out there listened to. Nowadays the top ~30 bands are probably going to be familiar to maybe only 40% of the listening population (or even less). At least that's the impression I get.

Of course the internet has had a big effect too, but I get the impression the industry would still be more fragmented even without it.

As Oscar Wilde would say, the best thing about today's music industry is that anyone can become famous, and the worst thing about today's music industry is that anyone can become famous. Take a look at things like Rebecca Black and What Does the Fox Say.

djchameleon · 03-08-2014, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pet_Sounds

As Oscar Wilde would say, the best thing about today's music industry is that anyone can become famous, and the worst thing about today's music industry is that anyone can become famous. Take a look at things like Rebecca Black and What Does the Fox Say.

Viral videos isn't the same thing as being in the music industry though. What an awful analogy.

Pet_Sounds · 03-08-2014, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djchameleon

Viral videos isn't the same thing as being in the music industry though.

Those two weren't very good examples, because, as you say, neither of those artists are in the music industry. Gangnam Style is probably a better example.

djchameleon · 03-08-2014, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pet_Sounds

Those two weren't very good examples, because, as you say, neither of those artists are in the music industry. Gangnam Style is probably a better example.

Psy has been in the music industry for a decade though and he's huge in South Korea before he even got popular with Gangnam Style.

Pet_Sounds · 03-09-2014, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djchameleon

Psy has been in the music industry for a decade though and he's huge in South Korea before he even got popular with Gangnam Style.

But it was the viral video that popularized him here, and brought more K-pop to our attention.
Take One Direction. They came in third on the X Factor and then signed a £2,000,000 deal.

djchameleon · 03-09-2014, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pet_Sounds

But it was the viral video that popularized him here, and brought more K-pop to our attention.
Take One Direction. They came in third on the X Factor and then signed a £2,000,000 deal.

K-pop was huge thanks to Youtube for a couple of years before Gangnam Style even came out.

On the other topic of those signing competitions, the acts that come out of them very rarely have any longevity.

Every year a new American Idol gets crowned. They put on one album or two and then they are completely forgotten about.

Did you forget about the existence of Star Search?
These singing competition shows aren't anything new.

listener101 · 03-09-2014, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pet_Sounds

But it was the viral video that popularized him here, and brought more K-pop to our attention.
Take One Direction. They came in third on the X Factor and then signed a £2,000,000 deal.

I agree the video was definitely a factor. Likely not the only factor though.

As a fellow Canadian who's a fan of Brian Wilson as well, we should really both try to get over the fact that Gangnam Style is just a pure fun circus stunt which became wildly successful as a fad. It's over. It's not classic art, just an aggressively loud catchy diddy full of character and energy. Party music. It fully deserved to get the love it got because the people loved it for it's spontaneous craziness, and the easy to love charisma of Psy, not for an unrelated standard of complex chords and elaborate melodies.

Here's the challenge for the listener with old school tastes, new school tastes, as well as fans of Psy, or not. Go back to Psy's 2001 release and go through his albums chronologically, listening to each song (using wiki and youtube), and see if there is something more substantial to enjoy. I call it music appreciation 101. One might be surprised at what one finds. Through effort comes appreciation.

Psy Discography :

-PSY from the Psycho World! (2001)
-Ssa2 (2002)
-3 Mi (2002)
-Remake & Mix 18 Beon (2005)
-Ssajib (2006)
-PSYfive (2010)
-Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1 (2012)